1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an article of manufacture and its method of use. In particular, the invention relates to a game ticket system comprising one or more play results being concealed and provided to players on a ticket, the play results potentially leading to an opportunity to win prizes dependant on the outcome of a live-action game.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Game ticket systems provide both a popular form of entertainment to players of the game and a source of income to providers of the tickets. These providers include state governmental bodies, charities, and private organizations. The providers may sell the tickets, or they may distribute them as promotions.
For players, the greater the entertainment value, the more they enjoy playing the game. For providers, the greater the entertainment value, the more effective the game ticket system is in generating ticket sales or promotional affects. For providers selling the tickets in conjunction with other products or services, the entertainment value also provides an incentive to bring in players, who in turn use the other products or services. Thus, the entertainment value is directly related to the successful use of game ticket systems.
Accordingly, modifications of game ticket systems that provide enhanced entertainment value can benefit both the players and the providers. Therefore, it is a desideratum to design game ticket systems with novel features to enhance their entertainment value.
A basic and popular form of a game ticket system consists of a plurality of tickets, each ticket having a single exposure device concealing printed indicia of one or more play results until the exposure device is removed. Pull-tabs and scratch-off surfaces are two common forms of exposure devices. For a pull-tab, removal entails opening the pull-tab to display the play result or results lying underneath. For a scratch-off surface, removal entails scraping off a portion of the surface to display the play result or results lying underneath.
Once exposed, a play result displays the value of the play. Different types of play results present the values in different formats. For example, a direct play result presents the value explicitly by showing the prize, if any. Other types of play results depict an encoded value, which must be interpreted. A common example of an encoded play result is a plurality of symbols associated with the display of a slot machine. Certain combinations of symbols correspond to winning plays. Regardless of format, with this basic form of game ticket system, each ticket has a predetermined play result value. And, since there is but a single exposure device, the player always knows if the ticket includes a winning value once the exposure device is removed.
A disadvantage of this type of game ticket system is that all opportunity for winning prizes is determined immediately, i.e. as soon as the exposure device is removed. This results in either immediate satisfaction or immediate disappointment on the part of the player, with no ability for the ticket provider to create a period of heightened anticipation or excitement during which the player knows the play outcome which he or she has selected or been assigned, but must wait for a period of time to determine if that play outcome will result in a winning play. Consequently, this type of game ticket system results in only being able to provide limited and immediate entertainment value and enjoyment for players.
In the unrelated field of live action gaming systems, the game of keno is well known. In keno, a player uses a keno game card to select a plurality of numbers between one and eighty, which in the game are know as xe2x80x9cspots.xe2x80x9d Normally the player may select as many as ten spots, or as few as four. Naturally, variations in the amount of spots which may be chosen occur from gaming establishment to gaming establishment. Normally, the game card is then submitted to the official of the gaming establishment, such as the agent of a state lottery at a bar or restaurant, prior to the beginning of the game play period. During the game play period, the gaming establishment draws twenty numbers between one and eighty in some random fashion, and if all, or some previously identified fraction of the player""s spots are drawn, he or she wins a pay amount. The odds against winning, and the corresponding payout for a winning keno game card, increase as the number of spots selected by a player increases. Game play periods last for a few minutes, and normally occur consecutively throughout the day or evening, with short breaks between each game to allow players to purchase additional tickets or refresh themselves prior to the commencement of another game play period.
A disadvantageous feature of this system is that once the player decides how many spots to choose, and then chooses the spots themselves, the player""s participation in the game ends. This situation means that the player often has little or no reason to remain in the gaming establishment after submitting his or her keno game card, and it is common practice for keno players to purchase and submit keno game cards for multiple consecutive games, then leave the gaming establishment during the game play to engage in other activities, and only return after the game play periods for their keno game cards are concluded, to determine their winnings. Ultimately, this results in the disadvantage of reduced excitement and enjoyment for players.
This feature also results in the disadvantage of reduced revenues for gaming establishments. Reduced revenues occur because players often fail to purchase additional keno game cards upon their return to the gaming establishment and, because players are not physically present during the game play, they do not purchase additional products and services, such as food and drinks, when they leave the Keno gaming establishment during game play.
Another disadvantage with keno-type games is that at some point during the game play period, enough numbers will have been randomly selected to make it impossible for certain keno players to win with the keno game card they hold for the current game. For example, with a keno game card on which ten spots have been selected, after the gaming establishment has already randomly drawn eleven out of twenty numbers, and none of those eleven numbers match the player""s chosen spots, it then becomes impossible for the player to win a significant payout on that keno game card. Among players who have stayed in the gaming establishment during the game play period, the knowledge of this certainty often causes frustration and disappointment, and frequently results in the player leaving the gaming establishment and refraining from purchasing additional keno game cards, products or services.
Some attempts have been made by providers of keno-type games to maintain player interest and attendance by offering free promotional items during the game play or tying receipt of these promotional items to the presentation of a current keno game card when the player""s name is randomly draw and announced during the game play period. However, these efforts have met with only limited success, because the promotional items offered often fail to create excitement among keno players. Additionally, the offering of these free promotional items reduces the profitability of a given keno game period, because the gaming establishment is forced to purchase the promotional items in the hope that they will stimulate the player""s interest and attendance, however the promotional items provide no direct financial return to the gaming establishment. Thus, these promotional items serve as a financial drain on the gaming establishment, while not providing significant added excitement and enjoyment for the keno players.
It is known within the bingo game industry to increase revenues by offering a game ticket system which consists of a plurality of game tickets, each having a single exposure device concealing printed indicia of one or more play results which are tied to a bingo number to be called in the next bingo game to be played. For example, a bingo player would be able to purchase a single exposure device, which, when exposed, would identify a bingo number, and the order in which that number must be called, e.g., xe2x80x9cB-5, First Number. xe2x80x9d These game tickets serve to create additional revenues for bingo, however, bingo varies from keno in that in the game of bingo players are required to attend the game play period in order to win, and a significant amount of player activity and participation is already involved in bingo. Accordingly, the sale of game ticket systems for the game of bingo create additional revenues, but probably do not create significant added player interest, excitement, enjoyment or attendance during the game play period.
As a result, there is a need for a gaming system which can be played in conjunction with the game of keno which can increase player excitement and attendance during the game play period, while at the same time providing an additional source of revenue to gaming establishments. The entertainment value of a game ticket system is difficult to predict and, thus, there is no formula for designing successful game ticket systems. Accordingly, there has existed a definite need for game ticket systems having enhanced entertainment value. The present invention provides this and related needs.
The present invention provides a game ticket system for use with live-action, keno-type games. The game ticket system provides enhanced entertainment to players of the game ticket system and an enhanced source of income and promotional benefits to providers of the game ticket system.
The invention includes a plurality of game tickets. Each game ticket includes one or more play results, each play result having a value. The play results are hidden from view, encoded, or otherwise not accessible to players by inspection. The game tickets are sold or otherwise distributed to players in this form and, thus, the value of each play result are concealed from the players when the game tickets are distributed. The play result value is revealed at some point after the game tickets are distributed.
A feature of the present invention is that the play result values appear in two forms. A first type of play result value may indicate, either literally, or by means of an encoded value, that the player has won a fixed amount of money. Naturally, amounts, and the number of game tickets bearing those amounts may be varied by the game ticket producer. A second type of play result may indicate, either literally, or by means of an encoded value, that the ticket is not a winning ticket. A third type of play result value will indicate a hold play. The hold play will identify a number in the set of numbers used in the keno game, normally between one and eighty. The player then must hold the ticket to see if the number indicated by the hold play result matches a number chosen during a predetermined selection, such as, for example, the last number selected during the game play period of the live action keno game. If the hold play result does match the number called, the player wins the indicated jackpot amount. If the hold play result does not match, the game ticket is not a winning ticket.
This feature thus significantly enhances the pleasure of playing the game ticket system. By linking the possibility of winning a jackpot amount to the outcome of a live action keno game, the game ticket system significantly prolongs the excitement and anticipation which the player can experience while playing the same ticket system. This results from requiring the player to wait through the entire play period of the live action keno game to determine what the last number called will be before the player is able to determine if his or her hold play result indicates a winning game ticket.
Another advantage of this feature is that a hold play result encourages the player to remain within the keno gaming establishment during the keno game play period so that the player can wait to see if his or her hold play result indicates a winning game ticket.
Consequently, because the player remains in the gaming establishment, this increases the possibility that the player will purchase additional goods and services from the gaming establishment, thereby increasing the player""s enjoyment of their gaming experience and increasing sales and revenues for the gaming establishment.
A still further advantage of the hold play result feature is that it provides an additional and unique opportunity for players to win prizes while playing the game of keno.
In essence, it allows players who have not been successful in the live action keno game play period to have purchased a xe2x80x9csecond chancexe2x80x9d at winning. This increases player enjoyment of the live action game of keno and can also reduce player frustration when they are not winning while playing the live action keno game. This feature also provides the distributor with additional advantages. The enhanced enjoyment of the players will attract more players and will increase revenues or promotional effects. Thus, these advantages heighten the pleasure of winning and, thus, the anticipation of all players while playing the game.
A preferred feature of the present invention is that the tickets of the game ticket system are distributed by the gaming establishment conducting the live action game. Also preferrably, a fixed number of tickets are part of a single lot of tickets, and all tickets from that lot are distributed prior to the determination of a hold play result winning ticket from that lot. Thus, tickets may be distributed during the periods of play of several live action games, but the hold play results will be linked only to the outcome of a single live action game play period beginning sometime after the distrubution of all game tickets.
An advantage of this feature is the further encouragement of players of the live action keno game to remain in the gaming establishment. Because players who have purchased tickets that have hold play results cannot determine if their hold play is a winning play result until all tickets of that lot have been sold, players will naturally tend to remain in the gaming establishment until the winning number is determined. A further advantage of this feature is that, in some instances, it encourages players with hold play results to purchase additional tickets, both to increase their odds and so that the winning result will be determined more quickly.
Another feature of the invention is that the game tickets may include one or more exposure devices, each of which conceals one or more of the play results. The exposure devices prevent the exhibition of the game ticket play result values until the exposure device is removed. Advantageously, this feature enhances a player""s enjoyment of the system with the visceral experience of revealing the play results, rather than just informing the player of the winning and losing values. It also allows players to feel that they are receiving xe2x80x9cmore than one second chancexe2x80x9d with the purchase of a single game ticket, and thus make players feel that they have received many opportunities to win prizes during the live action keno game play periods, rather than the single opportunity to win associated with a single keno game card.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.